Automatic switch closer for tracks



Mar. 27, 192 3.

' F. P- PDRTELLO.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH CLOSER FOR TRACKS.

FILED MAR 31, 1922- [N vzw rpm pm, I BY Tr/PNE Ya Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

t ara FRANK P. POBTELLO, F PORTLAND, OREGON, ASSIGNOB OF ONE-THIRD TO 3'. B.

OBERLE AND ONE-THIRD T0 WM. A. HALL, BOTH 0F PORTLAND, OREGON.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH CLOSER FOR TRACKS:

Application filed March 31, 1922. Serial No. 548,426.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK P. PoRTELLo, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Portland, in the county of Mult- 5 nomah, inthe State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Automatic Switch Closers for Tracks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to systems of tracks, usually overhead tracks, adapted for distribution purposes in packing plants, for example. Such Systems, as is well understood in the art, include a plurality and usually a multitude of track mains and branches, that are each adapted to be operatively conjoined or broken at will through the instrumentality of switches, respectively placed, as occasion demands, at the junction of one of said mains and a branch, the purpose being to afford means for transporting a loaded trolley along a main until a desiredbranch is reached, and then, by operation of the switch selected, shunting the trolley with its load onto said branch. The provision of switches as described in such systems is found to answer all requirements satisfactorily so far as transportation and selection of destination are concerned. It has been found in practice, however that often an operator will fail to close a switch at the proper time, with the result of driving a trolley into a break or opening in the track .and thereby of dropping the same, with certainty of serious loss of time in nearly every instance, and with the additional possibil ity of loss by injury to the product as well as by personal injury to operatives, and damage to the plant or its equipment.

The object of my invention is to provide automatic and dependable means which will insure the closing of a switch whenever an oncoming trolley, in its travel towards it, reaches a determinate proximity to it.

What constitutes. my invention will be hereinafter specified in detail and succinctly set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure I shows, by way of example only,

portions of a main track and of a branch track in top plan view, and shows in operative relationship thereto a main switch closed and a branch switch open. In .connection with said tracks and switches is illustrated in top plan, view my invention comprising a switch-closing element, and means, in operative disposition to the main track, for automatically closing the mainswitch every time a trolley requiring the closing of the switch approaches it.

Figure II is a view similar to Figure I showing the main switch open, the branch switch closed, and the oncomin trolley.

Figure III is a side elevation of the subject matter of Figure I. In this figure a. loaded trolley is shown in full lines substantially in the same position on the main track as that in which it is shown in Figure II, and in dotted lines in its switchclosing position on the track. v,

Figure IV is a section on the line IV-IV of Figure II, with unimportant portions in view broken away. 1

Figure is a section onthe line V-Vof Fi ure I.

ing, 1 indicates an example of a main track supporting beam, and 2 a branch tracksupporting beam. The beams 1 and 2, whose relationship one to another is substantially. identical with that of the respective tracks they carry, may be set at any relative angle desired, and, in service installation, they are multiplied indefinitely in number. 7 3 and 3 indicate, respectively, two portions of. r a main track rail that are supported on, the beam 1 as by brackets 4 in any usual or any preferred manner, the two numerals employed to designate the rail being used to indicate the presence of a disconnection or;. break between next adjacent portions of the rail. The main track rail 3? is also adapted to make and break communication with a branch rail 5, through the mediation of a curved track section 6. The rail 5 and the. section 6 are separated by a break, disposed in convenient proximity to that which separates the portions of the main track rail-.

The breaks between track rails, on adjacent main and branch tracks, for example. that between the rails 3 and 3 and that between 'therails 3 and. 6, are adapted to be Iteferring to the numerals on the drawclosed by correlatively' actuated or compound switch-plates and 8, Said'switchplates arepivotallymounted as upon a shelf 10 suspended, for-example, from one end of the "track portion 3 and also, if need-be, from a bracket llsuitably supported from above by any preferred means. i

The switch-plates 7 and 8 are denominevertheless,

nated compound because the movement of one of them is made dependent upon that of the other. They are old in the art, but it is deemed necessary to specify herein that the plate 7 is vibratory in a horizontal plane upon a vertical pivot stud 14 extending upwardly from the shelf 10. The plate 8 swings up and down on an axis 15 carried in lugs 16 upstanding from said shelf 10, and straddling the tail-piece 17 ot' the plate 7, which is free at all times to vibrate underneath the plate 8 and its axis 15. The plate 8 is provided with a tail-piece 18, by which it may be uplifted, as by a pull on the cord 19 depending through a hole 20 in the shelf 10.

The plate 7 carries a track-gap-filler 21, and the plate 8 a track-gap-filler 23, the former being adapted, when in the position of it shown in Figure H, to fill the break between the rails 3 and 6, and the latter to fill, when in the position shown in Figure I, the break between the rails 3 and 3 Comparison of Figures 1 and II will show that when either one of the trackgap-fillers is open the other will be closed. A suitable means to that end, and one by which said efiect is ordinarily accomplished, consists in the correlative disposition of the tail-pieces 17 and 18 in respect to the stud 14 and the axis 15, and the correlative dispositions of a bent tongue 25 on the bottom of the plate 8 and an aperture 26 in the plate 7 into which the tongue 25 takes with snug fitting snub engagement between the tongue and the surrounding aperture-defining wall.

In the foregoing specification of details, I have described only what is old and familiar in the art. My invention consists in the application to mechanism of that description of means for insuring it against accident in use.

Let it be assumed, for example, that with such equipment only as that already described, the track rails and switches are in the several relative positions shown in Figure 11, and that a trolley, indicated by the numeral 30, is approaching, in its line of travel, the end of the track rail 3. It is obvious then that unless the switch-plate 8 be lowered in time to supply the trackgap-filler 23 to the end of the track rail 3 before the trolley reaches it, the trolley and its load 3l-say for example of hundreds of pounds weight-will fall from the track. It has been, therefore, the duty of opera tives hitherto to attend always to the proper closing of the switches. It often happens, that an operative will neglect his said duty with consequence that are always attended with some loss, and which are at times disastrous to life or limb.

My invention consists in the substitution of mechanical means for human agency in closing the switches, whereby the closing thereof is made automatically eliective every time a, trolley 30 reaches a point along a track adjacent to one at which a switch is located.

In present preferred form of embodiment, my invention comprises a finger 35 that 1s carried on an actuating member. The free end of the finger is provided with a downwardly bent tip 37, which, by the longitudinal movement of the finger, is caused to engage the switch-plate 8 to which it is appropriated, with the effect of overbalancing it upon its axis 15 and causing it to drop by gravity. The same effect may be accomplished, as indicated in Figure VI, by imparting, through the same movement of the actuating member, vibratory instead of longitudinal motion to the finger 35.

The actuating member is pivotally secured at one end, as indicated at 39, to the beam 1. From its pivotal support 39, the said member extends substantially at right angles in an arm 40, from whose free end depends a rigid section 41, beyond which the member extends in a horizontal plane in the form of a bow 42. The bow 42 is disposed in a horizontal plane substantially parallel to and preferably elevated a little above the tread of the track on which the trolley 30 travels. The disposition of the bow 42 relatively to said track and trolley is such that the trolley, in order to pass along the track beyond the bow, must of necessity engage the bow and force it aside. The result is to cause the actuating member to turn slightly upon its pivot 39, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure I, and thereby, through movement of its terminal upstanding arm 43, to actuate the finger 35 so as to cause the switch-plate 8 to turn upon its axis 15 and to drop its track-gapfiller 23 into place to close with safety the break in the track.

The finger is guided for its own support and for that of the free end of the actuating member as by a guide loop 44 fastened to the bottom of the beam 1. A tensile spring 45 secured at one end to the beam 1 and at the other to the arm 43 serves to maintain a yielding normal relationship between the track and the bow 42. The finger 35 may be threaded at its end next to the arm 43 for the accommodation on opposite sides of said arm of nuts 46 and 47 by which it may be made adjustable longitudinally in respect to its connection with the arm 43. v

The operation of my invention having been already described in the preceding specification,

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a series of intercommunicable tracks having breaks between, of switches for closing said breaks, and automatic means for operating said switches, respectively, said means comprising a movable actuating member in operative communication with a track, and with a switch respectively, but separate from each other.

2. The combination with a series of intercommunicable tracks having breaks between, of drop-closing switches for closing said breaks, and an automatic switch closing member in operative communication with the track and with each switch, respectively.

3. The combination with a series of intercommunicable tracks having breaks between. I

of switches for closing said breaks, and automatic means for operating said switches, respectively, said means comprising a movable actuating member having a bow in operative proximity to a track, and carrying gilild operatively adjustable switch-engaging ger.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I FRANK P. PORTELLO. Witnesses:

J. D. OBERLE, WM. A. HALL. 

